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It’s no secret that the Trojan athletes are the shining stars of PVHS, but the art students finally had their time to shine in the Break These Chains art competition.

The event was hosted at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.

Mrs. Dabrowski, the art teacher here at PVHS, entered 10 of her students into the contest, which was centered around bringing awareness to the unfortunate common tragedy that is human trafficking.

The Hard Rock Cafe in Vegas hosted the Break These Chains Live event and invited all of the PVHS winners to be awarded for their achievement.

Each winner was presented with a certificate of congratulations as they were invited to be presented on the stage. The 1st place winners, Arys Palaciosin the freshman/sophomoredivision and yours truly in the junior/senior division, were given extra compensation for their work by receiving a $500 check each.

Those in charge of the competition requested that the 1st place winners give short speeches on their artwork and comment on human trafficking.

The audience was so moved by the speeches and artwork that one by one they began to stand until the room was filled with the roar of applause and whistles of congratulations.

All of the winning artwork is now being displayed in various locations around the country, which is an amazing privilege on top of an already awe-inspiring opportunity.

Kianha Cotter, a Sophomore at PVHS, won 3rd place in the competition and received $300 for her painting titled Without a Voice.

She stated that she was nervous about attending her first art event, but being invited up on stage and holding her certificate of congratulations made her proud of what she created and made the event worth going to.

According to Cotter, “Human trafficking is a common tragedy that can happen to anyone.” She added, “I want to show why this is a problem and how it affects people.”

The fact that paintings and pictures created by high school students are able to move a crowd to the point of a standing ovation is very inspiring. It proves that even though you man be “just a kid,” you truly have a voice and are capable of making a change in the world.

Emma, this was a great story about something you’re clearly passionate about! I really enjoyed reading this story and I learned a lot from it! Also, good job on your art!

Bryana on
April 9th, 2019 11:14 am

I actually didn’t even know that this went on, so it is a good thing that you wrote this story. The pictures went right along with the story which was also good. Very great story filled me in on what I missed!